Refining Your Voice

In our recent article, How to Talk to Your Target, I shared a few tips on what to say – and what not to say to potential customers.

The key is to see your target market as people. One way to accomplish this is to develop what’s called personas – fictional people who have the characteristics of your target market.

The better way to get to know your target market is to go out and meet folks who use your product or service. Spend some time visiting and find out what makes them tick.

Let’s say you’ve done your homework and you think of your target market as people. How do you know what tone of voice to use?

The first solution is to work with professional marketers – preferably Paulsen. We can help you develop a voice and tone that fits your brand.

Of course, there will be times when you need to communicate internally or externally without the help of your agency. Luckily, the same principle of focusing on people applies to refining your company’s tone.

Imagine that your company or organization is a person. It might be the president of your company or a spokesperson for your company. Or, it might be someone whose manner of speaking seems to represent the personality of your company.

Listen to that person talk. Write down a few of his or her statements verbatim. Get a good feeling for how the person speaks.

Then, when writing on behalf of your organization, think of that person’s voice and try to replicate it. This may sound simplistic but it works. Not only will your tone reflect the personality of your company, but it will sound like a human.

In summary, communication between companies and target markets should come as close as possible to the original form of communication – person to person.